1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing system and a method, and more particularly to the processing of test orders for the testing of production samples.
2. Description of the Related Art
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are used for various purposes including the administration of human resources, customer relationship management, inventory management and valuation, purchasing, sales, shipping, credit limit check, foreign trade controls and various other administrative, planning, report, logistics and control functions that are required for running a business. ERP systems are commercially available from SAP AG, Germany and others.
Laboratory information management systems (LIMS) are used for the purpose of laboratory automation and communication. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Document E1578 provides an overview of prior art LIMS concepts.
A common disadvantage of prior art LIMS is that they are more or less insular solutions, which cannot be integrated into a company's ERP. This creates various inefficiencies during the development and production of many products, such as pharmaceutical and chemical products for which the performance of various tests and evaluations and the recordation of test results is required by law. For example, under US law the requirements for the collection of test data are defined in federal regulations 21 C.F.R. Sec. 11.
To comply with such regulatory requirements manufactures devised standard operating procedures (SOP's) that are often prepared by a manufactures internal quality assurance department (QA) or by a contracted independent auditor.
A lot of laboratory staff time is spent on documentation related to these tests in addition to the actual laboratory operations. Cycle times from sample arrival to certificate of analysis are often quoted at 10 to 15 days.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,020 describes a system for managing and reporting laboratory data wherein the data is obtained at remote data-taking stations and transferred instantaneously by wireless communication to a main data-storing/manipulation station for recording therein without being recorded at the remote data-taking stations. Again, this system is not integrated with an ERP.
There is therefore a need to provide an improved data processing system in order to increase the efficiency of the generation and collection of test data and to reduce cycle times.